Sometimes it can be difficult to make sure I acknowledge and credit the people whose creativity made art possible. In this case, I was taken by Robyn Adele Anderson’s cover of Paint It Black, by The Rolling Stones, which she performed in the style of Back To Back, by Amy Winehouse. So I transcribed the horn parts, tweaked it a tiny beat, and covered it with an amazing vocalist and some great musicians.
A new song and artist for me, as well as a new genre “trip-hop” that I was not previously aware of. From the Waldeck album Ballroom Stories, composed by Joy Malcolm and Klaus Waldeck. The original recording features Thomas Berghammer on trumpet.
Producer and songwriter Waldeck takes his listeners on a musical journey through the past and present on his 2007 album Ballroom Stories. Dominated by jazzy instrumental structures and the vocal stylings of Joy Malcolm, Ballroom Stories is electronic dance music designed to evoke the sounds and moods of the 1920s, when glamour and intrigue walked hand in hand at dance halls and speakeasies.
My transcription is true and accurate to the original recording, and “Take 1” of my own recording reflected that. Although, after much encouragement from our producer, my revised recording includes significant embellishment to emphasize the “jazzy instrumental structures” of the song. I hope you like it.
Back in 2018, I published my trumpet transcription of LaGaylia Frazier’s funky vocal arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie’s bebop pièce de résistance. In the process of recording this song for a 2020 collaboration, I found the opportunity to tweak and build on my earlier work.
Here is my revised trumpet chart with a brand new video to accompany it.
Transcribing the trumpet lines from the source recording was challenging. As is often the case with a big Hollywood soundtrack, the horns were tightly interwoven with the strings and maybe some keyboards, making the trumpet parts sometimes difficult to hear and isolate. Fortunately, I stumbled on the fine work of brilliant young trumpeter Nate Chester, whose YouTube video of his own performance made my job of transcribing the trumpet parts much easier. Thank you, Nate. You totally nailed this piece!
This is a demanding trumpet part, with quite a few lines in the upper register. I revised some of the articulations, with less use of marcato than the original and instead favoring fatter accents and tenuto to make the big notes even bigger. After all, when we’re belting it out on trumpet and supporting a singer through a vocal climax, we want you to know about it! 😁
I’m honored to have been able to record this beautiful song with such a truly talented vocalist and great musicians from around the planet. I think we’ve produced a pretty fine recording, and it’s one that I’m proud to have been a part of.
Before being asked to record this piece I could probably have only named two songs by The Mamas & The Papas, though this one wasn’t amongst them. And judging by how deeply this song was buried in the band’s catalog, there are probably many other people who had also never heard of Dancing Bear.
The original recording doesn’t feature any brass instruments, making the song even more obscure for a trumpet transcription site. I did my best to transcribe oboe and bassoon lines, then I adapted them for my instrumentation to accompany my friend Janet on flute. With this adaptation, I’d like to think that we’ve subtly reinterpreted and freshened-up the instrumental intro and outro.
Kudos to Shawn Hare for his great work mixing the audio, producing the video, and singing lead vocals.
Guitarist Bob Sneider reharmonized this beautiful song, then Chris Van Hof arranged it exquisitely for trombone quintet. My work here was simply to transpose it to the point that I could reach the lowest notes on bass trumpet.
Both Bob and Chris have made the trombone arrangement freely available on Facebook and encouraged others to perform it. So I’m publishing my transposed version here for trumpet players.